Opposing the ideology of the split: Mythological synergy as resistance discourse in the novels of Louise Erdrich

This dissertation explores the characterization of mixedblood protagonists in Louise Erdrich's novels, Love Medicine and Tracks, and demonstrates how these characterizations deconstruct the stereotypical figure of the mixedblood as yet another icon of doom and sacrifice in the ongoing myth of the vanishing American while exposing the impact that colonization has had on indigenous communities. Erdrich's unique approach, which utilizes cross-cultural mythologies as wellsprings for characterization, goes beyond syncretism to produce a synergistic expression of mythic resistance to mixedblood stereotypes. In addition to using mythic figures and symbols extracted from denied and/or discredited forms of knowledge such as Chippewa mythology, and the Tarot, Erdrich also draws upon and deconstructs Christian imagery which she either forces back upon itself or opens up to expose the previously subsumed non-Christian elements. This strategy allows for new interpretations which subvert traditional associations and moves mixedblood protagonists away from their spuriously assigned role of scapegoat or sacrificial victim. In order to further oppose the Euro-American notion that mixedbloods are an "outcast" people who are by nature doomed, defective and double-crossed, that is culturally confused and therefore locked in stasis or canceled out altogether, Erdrich builds her stories around a family of characters largely composed of mixedbloods who survive more often than not, rather than focusing on the exploits of a single mixedblood protagonist disconnected from family and community. Through her characterizations, Erdrich makes it clear that the tragedies that afflict the lives of some of the characters in Love Medicine and Tracks are directly related to the effect that colonization has had upon them, and not to biologically deterministic notions of a fatal flaw of mixed blood.